Thread-cutter for sewing-machines.



' PATENTED OCT. 4, 1904.

C. D. MATTHEWS. THREAD CUTTER FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented October 4, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES D. MATTHEl/VS, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO MORRIS STERN, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

THREAD-CUTTER FOR SEWI NG-MACHINES.

S1 ECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 771,653, dated October 4, 1904. Application filed September 1, 1903. serial No. 171,489. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LOHARLEs D. MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and Improved Thread-Outter for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a full,clear,and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved clevice for holding and cutting the lower thread v of a lock-stitch or tWo-th read sewing-machine. In the embodiment here illustrated it comprises the combination, with the needle or throat plate of the sewing-machine, of a tongue fastened thereto and having a cutting edge, this tongue serving both to pinch the end of the thread against the throat-plate, whereby to hold the thread, and also to cut off or sever the thread, so that after the seam plate of a sewing-machine, showing my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the thread engaged with the cutting device before it is actually out thereby and also illustrating a section of cloth in the act of being removed from the machine, and Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the thread after it has been cut and while it is being held by the device.

The throat-plate a may be of any construction desired, excepting that there is produced, preferably, in the top surface of the plate a cavity a, this cavity communicating withthe usual needle-orifice (b placed a tongue 6, of spring steel, the end of In said cavity is' which adjacent to the needle-hole (b is free, and the opposite end is fastened by a screw or other means 0. One edge of the tongue t is formed to cut the thread. This is preferably done by giving the tongue 5 a serrated or toothed cutting edge, as indicated by b. The other edge may be formed rounding, so that it may pinch the thread against the throat-plate to hold the thread without severing it.

A machine equipped withmy improvement is operated precisely as usual, and in order to remove the work and sever the under or shuttle thread it is necessary merely to remove the fabric from the machine by drawing the fabric toward the free end of the tongue and over said tongue clear of the machine. This brings the thread under the tongue, so that the cutting edge thereof severs the thread, while the bottom and opposite or-dull edge of the tongue pinches the machine end of the thread against the throat-plate and holds said end securely. The sewing operation may therefore be resumed without requiring the operator to grasp or in any way to manipulate the shuttle-thread of the machine. Fig. 4: illustrates the position of the parts during the removal of the work, from which View it will be seen that as the work is drawn toward the tongue the thread is run under the same, and then by a further movement of the work away from the tongue the cutting edge thereof severs the thread, leaving it in the position shown in Fig. 5, where it is held by the tongue until withdrawn therefrom by a reversal of the above-described movement.

Various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of the invention may be resorted to at will without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Hence I consider myself entitled to all such variations as may lie within the intent of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a sewing-machine throat-plate having an'orifice therein for the needle and a cavity in the upper side of the throat-plate communicating with said orifice, and a spring-tongue fastened in said cavity and the tongue being fastened at the end distant from the needle-orifice, the free portion of the tongue being adapted to lie over the sewing-machine thread to hold the thread and the tongue having a sharpened edge to cut the thread. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. CHARLES D. MATTHEWS. Vitn esses:

FERNAUD F. TEISSIER, JNO. J. HEWETT. 

